


23 Reasons Why

by storywriter8



Series: Wizards and Werewolves and Wind Oh My! [11]
Category: Leverage
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Magic, Eliot Spencer-centric, Episode Related, Episode Tag, Episode: s02e03 The Order 23 Job, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Not Beta Read, Protective Eliot Spencer, Scene Rewrite, Shifter Eliot, Werewolf Eliot Spencer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-20
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:07:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23224528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/storywriter8/pseuds/storywriter8
Summary: When Eliot sees a young shifter with a broken arm gazing fearfully at the floor he finds it much harder to focus on the job.
Series: Wizards and Werewolves and Wind Oh My! [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1157621
Comments: 4
Kudos: 66





	23 Reasons Why

**Author's Note:**

> Social distancing in the backyard sunshine with my laptop.

Eliot glared at the closed stairwell door, rage simmering beneath his skin. He flicked Randall Trent’s drivers licence between his fingers. The image of the man’s son fearfully keeping his eyes on the floor as they shifted between soft brown and slitted cats eyes was burned into his mind.

The kid was young enough to have just gone through his first full moon as a cougar shifter. In a few years he would experience his first heat. And this human sack of garbage who dared to call himself a father was already beating him. Already introducing him to the hell that was a shifter’s life.

_“How many guys don't even see their kids? I bet this place is full of deadbeat dads. But a man who provides for his family after his biological freak of a wife dies, who shows his son the firm hand he needs to control the monster inside of him, he's the bad guy? Go back to your speed traps.” ___

__Eliot couldn't save the young shifter from every punch the world would throw at him, but he sure as hell would save him from this. But the poor kid couldn't even go to the cops with his father buttering them up. Couldn't go to the local cops, but maybe…_ _

__An idea began to tumble and turn in Eliot’s head as he rushed through the rest of the con, keeping the real and fake marshal off their tracks while allowing their mark just enough rope to hang himself._ _

__"Come on," Eliot muttered, tugging on Hardison's arm as they finally got to watch Eddie Maranjian screaming his head off while being arrested, "Gotta do the blow off."_ _

__They hurried back to the hospital and a very concerned US marshal and an unconscious fake US marshal while the others headed back to Nate's apartment to inform their client._ _

__Eliot gave a quiet chuckle as he eyed Bob and shoved Charlie back into the morgue’s freezer. “what's wrong Bob?”_ _

__"It's been a hell of a day, Ted," Bob said with a tired chuckle, "I got duped by a fake marshal and let my first prisoner escape."_ _

__Eliot smiled and made a mental note to bribe Hardison with steak and orange soda to make sure the poor guy made it through the aftermath of their con unharmed. “That's not the way I see it.”_ _

__Bob raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”_ _

__With another smile Eliot tugged a piece of paper he had snagged off a nurse’s station and pretended to read it. " ‘A courageous U.S. Marshal put himself in harm's way by allowing a contract killer to infiltrate his team in an effort to derail a plot to murder a cooperating federal witness.’ That's my report. This is your collar.”_ _

__“I can't let you do that,” the marshal said, shaking his head._ _

__“I'm the one that told you not to make the call,” Eliot insisted, heart caught in his throat at the thought that Bob wouldn’t take the credit. “You said, ‘I'm gonna call it in.’ I said, ‘No, no, no, don't.’ So, it's only fair.”_ _

__After a moment of hesitation Bob chuckled and nodded his head, “Damn right it is. You and your partner, you're all right. I don't know how to thank you, though.”_ _

__Swallowing down the small amount of guilt he felt at manipulating the marshal, Eliot slowly glanced over his shoulder and then pulled out that man’s drivers licence. Handing it over, the hitter let his wolf bleed through slightly, eyes turning red as he murmured between his fangs. “Do one thing for me.”_ _

__Bob’s eyes widened then turned to slits as he let his own shifter nature to the surface. He took the licence and inclined his head. “You got it._ _

__Later that night, Eliot watched the marshal stand in front of little Randy and his father and shift half way. Watched as the boy’s eyes grow wide and look from his father to one of his own kind. The hitter watched as Trent stood in his doorway as his son walked away into the safety of Bob’s car._ _

__Eliot sat in his car and watched until the shifters were gone and Trent had retreated back inside. He stared at the door and found himself thinking of Quinn._ _

__The blond shifter had shown him a part of the world Eliot had never experienced before. The part that put the wild spirit that they shared before the job and code of the hitter._ _

__Eliot’s pack instincts ran nearly as deep as his protectiveness of children, but kindness purely from a shared biology? Quinn had been the first to ever show Eliot that and the older shifter couldn't seem to get it out of his head._ _

__Eliot shook his head, started his car and pulled away from the curb. Did he help Randy because he was a helpless little kid? Or did he help the little shifter because of the wolf inside him?_ _


End file.
